


brilliant flame

by andromedagalaxy



Category: Eyewitness (US TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 01:19:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12948216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andromedagalaxy/pseuds/andromedagalaxy
Summary: “How many times is the tent supposed to collapse before we give up and just sleep on top of it?” Lukas asks, tossing one of the stakes aside.Philip chuckles, looking him up and down, and sometimes his feelings for Lukas are like lightning in his veins. Leaves are floating down to the earth in a rainbow of red, and somehow Lukas managed to get the best possible view by the lake. It looks like a mirror, the sky painted on the water, and the next family over seems to be a quiet one, or at least far enough away that they can’t hear them. Lukas has been going on and on about camping for a while but Philip never thought he’d like it right off the bat, even though the tent is putting up a fight.He figures he should get up and help.“I’ve got this,” Lukas says, holding out a hand in his direction as soon as Philip makes the slightest move. He looks so damn cute, bundled up in his new jacket. Philip is gonna get that scarf on him later if it’s the last thing he does.“You need help,” Philip says. “It’s turning into a verbal altercation now.”“I can yell at the tent if I want,” Lukas says. “It deserves it. I’m trying to create your forest paradise and it’s making me embarrass myself.”





	brilliant flame

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my secret santa in the philkas gift exchange, punk-pancake! I hope you enjoy this camping/fall/slightly rainy day piece! I'm very fond of this story and very happy with the final product, so I hope you love it! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! <3

“How many times is the tent supposed to collapse before we give up and just sleep on top of it?” Lukas asks, tossing one of the stakes aside.

Philip chuckles, looking him up and down, and sometimes his feelings for Lukas are like lightning in his veins. Leaves are floating down to the earth in a rainbow of red, and somehow Lukas managed to get the best possible view by the lake. It looks like a mirror, the sky painted on the water, and the next family over seems to be a quiet one, or at least far enough away that they can’t hear them. Lukas has been going on and on about camping for a while but Philip never thought he’d like it right off the bat, even though the tent is putting up a fight.

He figures he should get up and help. 

“I’ve got this,” Lukas says, holding out a hand in his direction as soon as Philip makes the slightest move. He looks so damn cute, bundled up in his new jacket. Philip is gonna get that scarf on him later if it’s the last thing he does.

“You need help,” Philip says. “It’s turning into a verbal altercation now.”

“I can yell at the tent if I want,” Lukas says. “It deserves it. I’m trying to create your forest paradise and it’s making me embarrass myself.”

Philip purses his lips, trying not to smile too hard. “Forest paradise.”

“Exactly,” Lukas says, meeting his eyes. “There’s a bathroom and a shower like five hundred feet away. That’s about as paradise for camping as I’ve ever seen.”

Philip knows Lukas has gone camping with his dad before, and through all the planning of this outing it’s felt like he’s been trying to make up for the times when he was young and not enjoying himself in the great outdoors. He brought a bunch of random snacks and stuck about fifteen beers in the cooler, more beer than water. He’s been acting like he has some kind of quota to fulfill since they turned twenty one. He has hot dogs to cook up, potatoes, cinnamon rolls, and Philip thinks Lukas is being pretty lofty in his aspirations, but then again the whole trip has felt like some kind of love letter. Lukas has always been a person of gestures, and Philip knows this trip is another big declaration of the depths of his feelings. Philip doesn’t think he’ll ever get over it. How Lukas makes him feel. 

Lukas growls a little bit at the tent and lifts part of it up, shaking off a couple leaves. 

Philip grins, approaching him. “Okay, I’m gonna help you.”

“Alright,” Lukas says, defeated, his brows furrowed. “But only because you’re cute.”

~

Lukas fluffs up the pillows behind their heads, looking up and around at their work. The tent was a gift from Helen and Gabe when they found out about Lukas’s plans and Philip always suspected that it was on the pricey side, considering how big it is. They can’t stand up all the way inside of it but they can get close, and they have plenty of room to lay down comfortably. There’s enough space for the little bed-tray Lukas brought along, and they’ve situated their cooler right next to it, their duffel bags in the corner. 

Lukas grabs from the pile of blankets and sits up on his knees, spreading it out. 

Philip snorts, moving aside so he can smooth it down. “How many of those are you gonna put there?”

“I don’t want you to feel the ground at all,” Lukas says, patting the blanket where it bunches up.

“Isn’t that the exact opposite of what camping’s about?” Philip says. “Being one with the great outdoors?”

“The only thing you’re gonna be one with is me,” Lukas says, flashing him a grin as he grabs another blanket. “Hey, you want a beer?”

Philip scoffs at him. “Lukas, it’s nine in the morning.”

“Philip, we are on _vacation._ ”

~

They have two beers a piece, which makes starting the fire a little bit more of an experience than Philip was expecting.

“Why do we need a fire?” Lukas asks, shoving a pile of leaves into the hole he made. “It’s day. It’s daytime, there’s natural light. The sun. And your eyes.”

Philip leans in and kisses him on the cheek, resting his head on his shoulder for a second. “Because you wanted to make those cinnamon rolls and I wanted to watch you fail at making the cinnamon rolls.”

“I will not fail,” Lukas says. “You will get a cinnamon roll. And it will be perfect.” He gathers up more leaves with his hands and lights a match, putting it down in the middle of them. The light quickly goes out, and Lukas sighs. “These leaves are wet. They’re not catching fire.”

Philip sits up a bit and narrows his eyes. “The ground isn’t wet, why are the leaves wet?”

“Think it was raining here yesterday, maybe the ground dried and the leaves on top of the trees stayed wet because…I don’t know, ugh, I just want a fire. Do you have any old homework in your bag that we can burn?”

“Are you crazy? We’re not burning old homework, we could burn something we still need by accident.”

“We’ll look at it first!”

“Lukas, no burning of old homework,” Philip says, glaring at him. “I doubt I even have any, anyways. This is that new bag you got me and I haven’t really filled it up yet.”

Lukas chews on his lower lip and lights another match, holding it to the leaves. The wind swiftly blows it out and Lukas gasps, like it was done purposefully to offend him. “This isn’t working,” he says.

Philip looks around. “How far did we say the closest neighbors were?”

~

The closest neighbors were, in fact, far enough away for Philip and Lukas to break a sweat getting to them, but luckily, they were a hip young couple with a four year old that apparently go camping all the time and had charcoal to spare. They made the trek to Philip and Lukas’s campsite, started them a fire in what felt like three seconds, and told them they could come back for any help they needed. 

“I’m glad they left some charcoal behind,” Lukas says, holding out a stick with a cinnamon roll stuck on it over the fire. 

“I can’t believe you made me have a drink before breakfast,” Philip says, clicking his tongue.

“No one _made you_ do anything, you are strong and independent and like to drink as much as I do.” Lukas leans in and kisses Philip’s forehead.

Philip hums and preens under Lukas’s attention. “I think you may actually be succeeding with this cinnamon roll.”

“I told you.”

“We’ll see if it tastes good.”

“There’s no reason for it not to taste good,” Lukas says. 

Philip sighs to himself, smiling. It sure does smell good. The trees sway softly in the wind and he sits there listening to the crackling fire, the sound of Lukas’s breathing. “It’s beautiful here,” he says. 

“Yeah,” Lukas says. “Dad came here with Mom before I was born. He’s got all these old pictures in albums that he likes to break out on the rare occasion that he gets sentimental. It looked beautiful, they looked so happy. I sorta knew I had to bring you here.”

Philip gazes at him. “You know I love you.”

“Of course I know,” Lukas says, grinning. “You know how I’ll really know? If you pretend you like this cinnamon roll even if it’s like, the worst cinnamon roll you’ve ever had.”

“It’s gonna be the best one I ever had because you made it,” Philip says, kissing Lukas’s shoulder.

“That’s why I love you,” Lukas says, holding his head high. “You’re so sweet even when you’re lying to me.”

~

They walk along a path in the forest and Philip can still see the lake shining through the trees. The sky looks pristine, and he knows almost all of his photos of it look the same but he keeps taking them anyway. His favorite subject is just a couple feet in front of him and he’s really into Lukas’s whole look for the first day of this trip. He takes about a hundred pictures of him, and thinks about getting their own album for his photos, one they can pull out during family gatherings and get sentimental about. 

He takes a photo just as Lukas shrieks.

“What is it?” Philip asks, his heart pounding as he strides towards him.

Lukas hurls himself backwards and trips over a tree root, toppling down and thrashing around on the ground. Philip drops down too, terrified at this point.

“What the hell’s happening?” Philip yells, hands on Lukas’s chest.

“I walked right through a spider web!” Lukas yells, his eyes squeezed shut as he keeps throwing himself around.

“What?” Philip asks, his eyes wide. “A spider web?”

“Do you see one on me?” Lukas asks, slapping his own face.

Philip tries to look but the only things he sees that shouldn’t be there are a few pretty leaves and a lot of dirt. “No…”

“Nothing moving?” Lukas asks, and he turns over onto his stomach.

Philip wipes Lukas down with his hands as well as he can but he doesn’t feel anything. “Lukas, there’s no spider.”

Lukas turns back over and sits on his knees, looking around, an accusatory expression on his face. “Okay,” he says, and Philip reaches out, brushing some dirt off his cheek. “Let’s go back to camp.”

“Really?” Philip laughs. “We’ve barely been gone ten minutes.”

“There are spiders,” Lukas says, gesturing towards the fateful spot where he had his encounter. “I’m not letting you walk through the spider forest.”

“So gallant,” Philip says, helping him to his feet. 

~

Philip is sitting on a big rock by the edge of the lake and all he does is take off his shoes, because there’s no way he’s getting in that water. Lukas knows he hates swimming and didn’t attempt to push him, but he brought his bathing suit along and planned to do a couple laps before he realized how cold it was.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of this,” he says. He’s standing with his bare feet in the water and his jeans pulled up a little bit on his calves. Philip can see that he’s already trembling.

“I thought you understood seasons and weather at this point in your life,” Philip says.

“Shut up,” Lukas says, a small smile tugging at his lips. He looks out at the water—no one else is out there, and that on its own should have tipped them off. The wind brushes through and more leaves float down around them, and Lukas shakes harder.

“It’s October, it’s just gonna get colder,” Philip says. “It’ll probably be snowing on Wednesday.”

“Yeah,” Lukas says. He walks back towards him, pushing his pant legs back down. The rock Philip is sitting on is smooth and Lukas sits down easily beside him, pulling him into his arms. “It’s really pretty,” he says.

“Yeah,” Philip says, gazing out at the water and the light.

“I meant your face,” Lukas says.

Philip giggles, arching his neck back so he’s leaning on Lukas’s shoulder. “You’re an idiot.”

“I know,” Lukas says. “It works for me.”

Philip is overwhelmed for a second and he shifts in Lukas’s arms, twisting the lapel of his jacket between his fingers. “C’mere,” he whispers, tugging Lukas closer. Lukas hums happily and Philip kisses him, his eyelids fluttering closed. They clutch at each other, the kiss deepening and sending a jolt of pleasure through Philip’s body. He runs his hand through Lukas’s hair and moans a little bit into his mouth, breathing harder and harder through his nose. 

“Mmm, you taste so good,” Lukas whispers against his lips. 

“We need to make s’mores after dinner,” Philip says, still swaying a little bit against him. “Then I’ll taste even better.”

“So smart,” Lukas says, kissing him again.

~

They wander around, and Philip takes more pictures. Lukas tells campfire stories while it’s still light out and none of them are scary, but Philip still puts on a show of clutching at him and feigning shock at the good parts. Philip loves when Lukas gets going, gets lost in a story and can’t stop himself. He holds such pride in his heart knowing he’s the only one Lukas opens up to, that he’s the only one who gets to see him like this. So chatty, so carefree, so sure of himself. So real. This is his Lukas. The one everybody wishes they knew.

Philip holds a hot dog on a stick over the fire as the sun gets low in the sky, watching the flames flicker and dance. This fire they made on their own. It only took twenty minutes.

“You’re really taking care of that wiener,” Lukas says, giving him a look.

Philip sighs, trying not to smile. 

“I mean, I know you know your way around—”

“You need to stop,” Philip says, his eyes darting over. Then he hears a couple crackles and he looks back at his hot dog, which promptly explodes and flies in two different directions. Philip gasps and drops the stick in the flames, and then gasps again as Lukas quickly grabs the edge of it and tosses it aside. Luckily, it isn’t on fire.

“Uh…” Philip says. 

“Alright, so maybe—” Lukas starts.

“Please, no more wiener jokes,” Philip says, snorting. “You saw what just happened. Do you want that to be you?”

“I mean, you always make _my_ —”

“Lukas, I will kill you.”

Lukas leans in, kissing his cheek sweetly. “Okay, we’ll try it again and if we fail one more time it’s gonna be junk food and s’mores for dinner, because I think we can manage that.”

Philip stares at him. “I don’t know. I think I might be shit at this. That thing really flew.”

“Well, I won’t complain about licking chocolate and marshmallows off your body, so we’ll try to aim it in your direction.”

~

They eat two small bags of Cheetos, a whole box of cookies, and the bananas Philip brought that elicit more dirty jokes from Lukas. The s’mores are a surprising success with no explosions and the perfect amount of melted chocolate. Philip kisses some of it off Lukas’s mouth and like so many occasions when they’re alone, Philip winds up in Lukas’s lap, grinding down against him. Everything around them is beautiful, from the twinkling stars in the sky, to their stupid fire, to the lake and the trees with all the fall leaves, but none of it really means anything when Lukas is anywhere near him, as he tends to eclipse everything else.

They make out by the fire for a while and Philip hears it dying as the sparks between them build, and soon they’re crawling into the tent, Lukas hovering over him and looking like some kind of awkward, precious angel. He plasters himself against Philip and presses a quick kiss to his lips before he looks at him again. Philip can hardly see him, the fire pretty far outside their tent, but he can see the whites of his eyes. He looks worried.

“What if bears walk in on us when we’re fooling around?” Lukas asks, and he’s whispering like someone could be listening.

Philip snorts, laughter bubbling up and escaping before he really thinks about it. “Well, we’ll have bigger problems than offending their delicate sensibilities.”

Lukas grins and Philip shakes his head.

“I’m gonna zip the door up,” Lukas says.

“Okay,” Philip says, though he’s loath to let him go for even a second. Lukas crawls over, closes the door and quickly returns. Philip smiles at him, pulling him down into another kiss. He’ll never get tired of this, never, and when Lukas unzips Philip’s pants and starts making his way down, Philip arches his neck back and feels like the whole universe is boiling down to them.

Lukas gives blowjobs like he’s made to give blowjobs, and a tiny voice in the back of Philip’s mind wonders if he’d be this good if he was doing it to someone else. But then Lukas drags his tongue along the underside of Philip’s cock and all the voices cease, replaced with a sheet of warmth, of flashes and memories and love, love, love. Lukas holds Philip’s hips down and hums to himself, sucking and licking and taking Philip deep, so deep that Philip sees stars even though they’re under the canopy of the tent. The stars Lukas makes are different than the stars in the sky, more vibrant, vivid, all shooting and cascading across the backdrop of Philip’s mind, burned on the backs of his eyelids. They are brilliant flame.

“Lukas,” he breathes, tangling his hands in Lukas’s hair. “Lukas, fuck, oh God—”

Lukas bobs his head, moaning, and Philip echoes it, sucking in a breath that almost chokes him. Lukas licks along the slit and Philip gasps, letting go, his orgasm rolling through him. His thighs shake as he floods Lukas’s mouth, his heartbeat everywhere, and it feels like he can’t get enough air.

Philip’s knee cracks as Lukas pulls off, kissing his hip and moving back up his body. Philip can feel Lukas’s erection when he presses against him, and his whole body feels like jelly but he turns them onto their sides anyways, undoing Lukas’s pants.

“Fuck,” Lukas breathes, pressing his forehead to Philip’s. “I love the way you taste. I fucking—I love it.”

That always gets to Philip and he groans, stuffing his hand into Lukas’s pants and wrapping his fingers around his dick. Lukas is throbbing, already wet, and as soon as Philip touches him Lukas gasps like he’s been burned, pressing the bridge of his nose to Philip’s cheek. Philip knows he isn’t gonna last long, and the thought that he can take Lukas apart like this drives him half insane. 

“God, baby,” Lukas breathes, pumping his hips forward. “Philip.”

“Lukas,” Philip says, working him faster, the feel and shape of Lukas’s cock so familiar in his hand. Lukas is clinging to him—he wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him closer. Philip gasps, hardly has any room, but it doesn’t matter because Lukas comes with one more twist of Philip’s wrist. 

“Fuck,” Lukas breathes, shaking, as Philip strokes him through his orgasm. “Fuck, fuck.”

“Yeah, babe,” Philip says, stealing a kiss from Lukas’s slack lips. 

~

Lukas tries to clean himself up as good as he can with the box of tissues he’d put aside. They manage pajamas and have two more beers each before heading for bed. The last thing Philip remembers clearly is Lukas making sure the tent door is closed a lot longer than he probably needs to, and Philip sighs into silence as Lukas gathers him up in his arms. The fire is a small orange speck through the tent, and Philip has half a mind to watch it go completely dim before sleep overtakes him. 

 

He wakes up with a start. He blinks in the darkness, hardly aware of where the fuck he is. He cracks his back and winces, reaching out and pressing his phone, which is miraculously plugged in to one of the seven portable chargers they’d brought along. Four in the morning.

He has to pee.

Lukas is a little ways away from him, one lazy arm thrown around his waist. Philip sighs, extracting himself, and tries to be as quiet as possible, unplugging his phone and grabbing it. He slips on his sandals, crawls over to the tent door, unzipping it and moving outside. He starts shivering immediately, and plans to be quick. He gets to his feet as he looks around—he could easily just piss on a tree a little ways into the forest, but one, he’d know that tomorrow and it would skeeve him out. Two, he doesn’t want to go into the fucking forest because it’s _dark._ Not normal darkness, but an advanced kind of darkness, the kind that haunts his dreams and sorta makes him want to hold his pee in until morning. Three, the bathroom is pretty close, and he decides to make a break for it.

He only falls once.

The rock came out of nowhere, he tells himself, and he turns on his phone flashlight, a little worried about draining his battery. He gets up and brushes himself off but gets right back to his original pace, the light from his phone wavering as he runs.

He goes to the bathroom as quickly as he can once he reaches it, but somehow he goes out a back exit when he’s finished, and he immediately feels turned around. The dark feels darker. The air colder. He wasn’t smart enough to grab a jacket but to his past self’s defense he didn’t plan on being out here for long.

His heart beats faster and he’s annoyed he didn’t wake Lukas up. He looks around and sees the lake, tries to center himself. He turns on the flashlight again and starts moving, and thinks he’s probably imagining the fact that the light seems dimmer.

He tries not to think about his nightmares, the kind he’s been staving off in the years since everything happened. Lukas keeps them at bay with his presence, with his mouth and his hands and his embrace, the soft reassurances he whispers in Philip’s ear when he feels him tense up or start to fall under the drape of something sinister. Philip tries to imagine he’s here. No, he reminds himself. He’s trekking back to him right now. He’ll be sleeping peacefully, his breath coming slow and soft, and Philip can just imagine cuddling in close to him, resting his head on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

He finally comes back across the tent and turns off his light, slowly unzipping the door. He bends down and instantly hands close around his forearms and tug him forward. His heart jolts and he screams, pushing back. 

Lukas shrieks too.

“Philip, it’s me!” Lukas says, shining his own light on Philip’s face. 

“Oh,” Philip says, breathing fast through his mouth and squinting.

“Who else would it have been?” Lukas says, taking Philip’s arms again but more gently this time. He coaxes Philip all the way into the tent and reaches out, zipping it back up. He turns his imposing light off.

“I didn’t expect you to reach out and grab me!” Philip says, trying to catch his breath as he kicks his shoes off and plugs his phone back in. “You were sleeping!”

“As soon as I realized you were gone I woke up!” Lukas says. He fluffs the pillows up a little bit and tugs Philip back down, into his arms. “I think half of me is always listening out for your breathing.”

Philip smiles and presses a lopsided kiss to Lukas’s jaw. “Next time I go to pee you’re going with me.”

“Deal,” Lukas says, brushing Philip’s hair back.

~

Philip wakes up first the next morning, but he has no inclination to move. Lukas, sometime in the night, had pulled up their biggest microfiber blanket so it was covering the two of them, and Philip is currently pressed against his chest, half of his face hidden under the softness of the blanket. He’s still under the spell of his last dream though he can’t remember what it was, just that it was good. 

He can feel the cold air through the edges of the tent and he burrows closer to Lukas and further under the blanket, trying to gather the warmth and conserve it. He can hear a couple plucks and drops and then he realizes it’s raining outside, which reinforces the fact that he isn’t gonna get up any time soon. The tint of the sky washes over the tent too, and it looks like bubblegum from in here, pre-dawn beauty slipping through the color palette before making way to clear blues. There are a few birds chirping, the sounds of the trees swaying and the leaves dropping all around them.

Philip feels good. He feels happy.

It’s even better that Lukas looks like an angel again. Putting aside the fact that he looks like an angel all the time, Philip takes the soft quiet of this moment to admire him. The stronghold he has on Philip’s shoulder and waist despite being dead asleep. The way he seems to look elegant despite being a mouth breather. The long fan of his lashes that he’s semi-embarrassed of but that Philip loves to the end of the earth and back. His eyelids fluttering, surely indicating that he’s having a good dream too, or at least an exciting one. And his hair, tousled and sticking up, a few pieces crushed and curling against his cheek. 

Philip is so floored by him.

He stretches out a little bit and can feel the sun starting to stripe across the tent. He tightens his hold on Lukas, scooting up a little bit to nuzzle his neck. 

It takes a moment or two but then Lukas hums, clearing his throat.

Philip is still sleepy but now he’s on a mission, nuzzling and cuddling and planting little soft kisses to Lukas’s neck and cheek. Lukas hums again, a little more alert this time, and chuckles.

“You feel good,” he says, voice raspy. “All warm.” He rubs his hand back and forth along Philip’s shoulder. 

“I’m happy,” Philip says, and he knows there were so many times in his life where he said that phrase but didn’t mean it. But with Lukas, here, now, always, it’s true. It’s beyond true. This life with Lukas is the best thing that ever happened to him. In these still moments with the person he loves, he gets to feel calm. He gets to feel valued. He gets to feel at peace. 

Lukas pulls the blanket up higher over them and tugs Philip in so they’re nose to nose. “Good,” he says, smiling radiantly as a strip of sunlight casts across his face. “I am too.”

Philip leans in and kisses him, smiling against Lukas’s lips.


End file.
